"Missional Listening" and the Bible

Scot McKnight makes a most helpful comment in his book The Blue Parakeet: Rethinking How You Read the Bible (Zondervan, 2008) about the purpose of reading Scripture. In the book, which I'm currently reading, he describes a relational form of reading scripture -- that is, the point of reading and sharing in the biblical story is not simply to gather information, but to share in relationship with the God revealed in its pages.

With that as backdrop, I want to briefly comment on a statement he makes in chapter 8 of the book, a statement that I think is very helpful. To set up this statement, McKnight points us to St. Augustine, who taught that the primary mission of scripture was to help us become "people who love God and love others. If our reading of the Bible leads to this, the mission is accomplished. If it isn't . . ."

What is the purpose of Scripture? To help us love God and love our neighbor.

He goes on to write:

Here is a sad fact: many of those who teach us how to read the Bible teach us how to gather information and find the right path from A to B. They teach us about words and paragraphs and book outlines, and they point us to sources and resources for understanding the historical context. Each of these is important. But what Bible study books don't focus on is church and personal transformation. Any method of Bible study that doesn't lead to transformation abandons the missional path of God and leaves us stranded. (Blue Parakeet, p. 105).

Note that he doesn't talk about "relevant Bible teaching," which too often is little more than pop psychology mixed with biblical proof texts (to give the "teachings" a holy texture). What he's speaking of here, is learning how to love God and neighbor -- it's not focused on self, but on others. As a pastor and teacher, I look at how and what I'm teaching, and I wonder -- are people being truly transformed?